[mythtv-users] RAM differences, was: will this system cut it ?

[Brian Wood]

On Thursday 12 March 2009 19:04:15 sonofzev at iinet.net.au wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'll have a spare AMD 4200+ and either 2GB cheap RAM or 1GB good corsair
> RAM.. available soon..

I'm wondering if there really is a difference between "cheap" and the "name 
brand" RAM, or are you just paying for marketing in the latter case?

The more expensive stuff *might* have better quality control or better 
warranty support, but is it really "better" in any meaningful way, once it is 
installed and working?

I'd guess that unless it actually fails, once it is working the cheap stuff 
probably makes no difference to the operation of a system.

I also see memory marketed as "major/third", meaning the chips are made by 
a "major" outfit but put on boards and sold by "non-major" companies. I'd 
guess that not too many Mom and Pop outfits manufacture RAM chips.

A lot of the marketing for the higher-priced memory seems to be aimed at 
gamers ("Dominate Your Enemies", or the like), never addressing technical 
issues or anything that might actually mean anything. Of course gamers 
probably represent a large portion of the after-market RAM business, so this 
might make sense.

Certainly putting LEDs on the RAM sticks is not likely to affect performance, 
but might appeal to gamers, or people who have confused their PCs with 
display windows.

I now try to buy the cheapest RAM I can find, as long as I buy from a 
reputable vendor with good return policies, am I wrong?

My "Dead RAM" box contains the well-known names as well as unknowns, in about 
equal quantities.

-- 
beww
beww at beww.org